For the longest time, I had always felt people who wore braces looked cool so I made it a secret wish to get them. Not because I desired to correct my teeth, but because I wanted to be a ‘cool kid’ .
In case you didn’t know, braces are devices used to align (crooked) teeth, and also correct several dental issues.
Why Do We Even Have Crooked Teeth?
From research done over the years, we’re told our ancestors (Hunter-gatherers) had better dentition than us (modern humans). They had complete set of teeth including the wisdom teeth that many of us are now terrified of, and the reason for this is surprisingly quite simple.
These early humans didn’t eat the kind of foods we eat now. Nuts, fruits, and raw foods that they majorly consumed require a lot of chewing to make these foods digestible. These jaw movements contributed to them having larger Jaws and enough space for all their teeth to fit in.
From the start of the Industrial Revolution, foods that require effort to soften (grains, nuts, fruits, etc) were now being processed in factories and hence, reduced the need for much efforts to make them digestible. The result? nothing extreme, but we see the effects over the years.
Because we’ve continued to eat processed, cooked, or softened foods that now don’t need a lot of chewing, our Jaws have shrunk in size, making us have smaller/ narrower faces with teeth sizes remaining the same. And because the genes responsible for your jaw size and how your teeth grow are different, this causes conflict. When you start growing out your wisdom teeth and it hurts a lot, it’s because there’s literally no space for it, making it to grow awkwardly, pushing your molars. This is also why we have scattered teeth. There’s no space in our mouths for everything to fit in!
So How Can You Improve Your Jaw Strength?
Include hard foods to your diet. Carrots (I dislike this a lot!), tubers, nuts, and the like. The more activity on your jaws, the better. Even better for your kids because you’ll be saving yourself trips to the dentist
I have crooked teeth, and so does my brother. But neither of us uses braces 😂. I have done my research and discovered that wearing them is quite uncomfortable and you can’t do all you want with your mouth. So I will refrain from being a cool kid till whenever 🙏🏾.
If you’d like this explained using visuals, check out these videos titled
‘Why do we have crooked teeth when our ancestors didn’t’ and this too ‘Why do wisdom Teeth Suck.
Thanks for reading.
xoxo.
